Winds of Change
by SoulSeeker
Summary: When Mother Nature swept the world with the winds of change, she missed a spot. Two spots... [oneshot, HeijiKazuha]


**Title: **Winds of Change  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Written For:** Candyland  
**Fandom:** Detective Conan  
**Couple:** Heiji/Kazuha  
**Given Prompt:** "Someday, we'll look back at this and laugh."  
**Words: **1,404  
**Rating:** PG-13

* * *

"Heeeiji!" a shrill voice suddenly called from across the yard. "Oh, _Heiji!_"

Eight-year-old Heiji let out a groan upon hearing the voice; he knew it anywhere. The only voice more annoying was the sensei's.

He'd been stuck with this girl for five years of his life, and try as he might, he couldn't get away from her. He'd tried a million times to just forget her name and her existence, but she wouldn't let him; and neither did his parents. Part of him didn't want to forget her; part of him was glad that his parents had more or less urged him to make friends with her. Constantly he reminded himself of the part—the half of him that had a heart. But it was only part of him.

She'd been to every single one of his birthday parties, and now courtesy bounded him to go to every single one of hers.

That was the only reason he was there—Kazuha's stupid birthday party. His parents had told him to go—since he'd been invited—with instructions to at least act like he was having fun. He never _was_ good at listening.

What was so special about turning eight, anyways? And why did he have to miss his favorite mystery show for it? Of all the days, he wondered why it just had to be that day.

"What do you want?" he responded, trying to sound half-nice. He then noticed a video camera on the scene, the red light flashing. Did her father have to film everything?

Kazuha detected the hint of aggravation in his voice and folded her arms. "I _just_ wanted to thank you for your present," she declared, walking over. "Geez."

Right. The teddy bear he'd absent-mindedly picked out from a bunch of old things he'd found in his attic—thrown in a big bag with a card that his parents had picked out for him. She didn't have to know that; and knowing her, the thought was enough. Her smile was a mile wide—and it was lethally contagious.

"Oh," he replied nonchalantly, chin in the air. "That old thing. No problem."

Kazuha smiled, thankful at the slightest attitude improvement. She began to walk away, letting her hair flutter behind her. She intended to leave Heiji there to sulk by himself like he wanted, when suddenly he called her back unexpectedly. She saw him with his hands behind her back, smiling. At the moment, she couldn't tell if the smile was genuine.

"Actually, let me see that bear again," he grinned. "I want to add something to the present."

She recognized it; the cheeky grin, the glazed darkened-green eyes. It was the goofy smile he'd always put on with his friends. This kid was up to something.

"Why?" she asked. The brunette pulled the bear even closer to her body protectively. This had to be one of his jokes; one of the ones his friends probably urged him to pull. They never did like her, and she knew Heiji well enough to know that he couldn't resist peer pressure to save his life. He'd pull out a water-gun or something and soak her and her new toy with it—her, _and_ her white shirt. Not that he knew what that meant.

"Come on, just lemme see," he nudged. "I promise it'll be really cool."

"That's okay," Kazuha replied. "I like it the way it is. Thank you though."

"Come on," Heiji urged. "Just lemme see!"

Pause.

Getting no reaction, he sighed and finally pulled a pair of tiny sunglasses from his coat pocket. They were small, probably from a few years ago. He had almost forgotten about them. "I just want to put these on him," he said plainly.

"I told you, it's okay," she replied. "Thanks anyway."

"Just let me see it!" Before he could think, Heiji's arm was latched onto the bear.

"Hey! Let go!"

"Just—one—second"

"LET GO!"

_Crash._

Laughter, embarrassment. The whole childhood package. Heiji and Kazuha were both red and on the warm, dirt-ridden, grassy ground, surrounded by Kazuha's friends. Teddy bear's arm ripped; sunglasses broken. They glared at each other. The whole transaction had happened in under five seconds.

"My teddy bear!" Kazuha exclaimed.

"My sunglasses!"

They stood there in bewilderment, ignoring all interrogation on whether or not they were okay. They simply stared, looks of hatred resonating from their eyes; bruises ignored, pain discarded. They both stood up, brushing themselves off in the process, each grabbing their wounded items; and finally, in perfect sync, they yelled over the crowd:

"_I hate you! I never want to see you again!"_

They turned away from each other, growling inaudible curses under their breaths. She saw Heiji walk off into her house, probably to sulk, and her other friends began to approach her, probably to comfort her. She gravitated towards a table, full of chips, candies, chocolates, and…the screen turned blue. "STOP" played across the empty blue in white, with the familiar square symbol next to it—and then both disappeared.

Her father had evidently stopped recording at that point.

A quiet laughter from seventeen-year-old Kazuha filled the empty air—and as quickly as it came, it was cut short.

"What're you watching, ahou?" a voice suddenly chimed.

The door creaked open; it was an older, teenage voice with an unmistakable Osakan accent. And Kazuha quickly burst upright, instinctively hitting the Stop/Eject button on the remote in her hand, shifting her gaze to the person who just entered and nearly given her a heart attack. The VCR spat out the tape and she simply smiled. "Oh," she mumbled, recovering from her shock. "Hi, Heiji."

Heiji arched an eyebrow and gazed suspiciously at her. He walked over to the VCR, grabbing the tape to look for the label; and when he didn't find one, he simply stared. "Not watching porn, are you?" he teased, tossing the tape nonchalantly with a smirk. Kazuha caught it with a dumbfounded expression.

"What? No!" she declared. "It's just an old tape. You know, an old video, of when I was a kid. I came across it."

He nodded. "So that was the annoying voice I heard in the background," he mused, ruffling her hair a little.

"Yeah. _You_ were in it," she declared with a smirk.

There was a pause as Heiji stopped to look at her expression. He thought for a moment, knowing that there were only a select few "home videos" in which he was actually filmed. Some of them got lost, never to be found again, which narrowed down his possibilities even more.

"Eighth grade birthday party?" he guessed.

Kazuha nodded, and they both chuckled.

"I never did understand why your dad recorded that whole fiasco," Heiji mused. "What was it we said? 'I hate you…'"

"_I hate you and I never want to see you again_."

Their voices rang in unison, and chuckling broke out once more. "That was it," Heiji nodded, reminiscing. "_So_ ten years ago, huh?"

She smiled. "Yup—we've sure changed since then."

Heiji plopped down next to her on the couch, letting her lean on him as they got comfortable. There was silence, and suddenly, he shook his head. "Well—not _really_," he argued.

Kazuha shut her eyes, relaxing with a smile. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so at ease. "Yeah, I guess we haven't changed _that_ much," she agreed. She sat up briefly to look at him, their eyes meeting faintly. "Only a little."

She laid back down again, and Heiji put an arm around her, shutting his eyes as well.

"Yeah. Only a little."

Giggling, Kazuha rewound the tape and played it again from the beginning. They laughed, mocked themselves and reminisced, swearing to themselves that their arguments had gotten more intelligent since then.

"You totally started that one too," Heiji noted.

Kazuha stared at him, dumbstruck as if his words had gone in ear and right out the other. She couldn't believe it—was he seriously starting an argument about…an argument? Seemed like him enough. "Ex_cuse_ me?" she sputtered demandingly. "_I_ started it?"

"Definitely!" he answered, completely assured. "If you'd have just given me the damn bear…"

Kazuha smacked her forehead grievingly, refusing to add fuel to this spark that Heiji had started. She simply turned away in a completely mature manner and continued to watch, ignoring him.

_You ahou_, she thought silently. _You'll never change…_

* * *

**_A/N:_** _For a drabble request. Haha, sorry this took so long, Candy. ;) I hope you (and anyone else who read) enjoyed it. The other four requests will be coming up soon..._


End file.
